World in Brief for Friday, Oct. 14, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak are promoting a new trade deal by visiting an auto plant in Michigan, a state battered by Asian car imports, in a rare joint appearance outside of Washington by a U.S. president and a visiting head of state.

In choosing General Motors Co.'s Orion assembly plant for a post-state dinner tour Friday, the two leaders will draw attention to an aspect of a U.S.-South Korea trade agreement that had been among the most difficult to negotiate. Congress approved the deal Wednesday after negotiators overcame U.S. auto industry complaints that previous efforts at a deal failed to do enough to lift South Korea's barriers to U.S.-made cars.

Obama is taking Lee to the heart of the region that has been hardest hit by foreign car competition, especially the influx of vehicles like South Korea's Hyundai.

But for Obama, the trip is also an opportunity to highlight the auto industry's resurgence after he engineered an $80 billion government bailout for GM and Chrysler in 2009. The Orion plant, about 30 miles north of Detroit, had been shuttered before the federal government stepped in and helped usher the two carmakers through bankruptcy protection. The plant now is producing the subcompact Chevrolet Sonic and will start production of the compact Buick Verano soon.

The Sonic, the only subcompact sold in the U.S. that is assembled in the U.S., is being built with Korean parts. GM began building the Sonic last year following an agreement with the United Autoworkers that allowed the company to pay some workers lower wages that are more competitive with those in GM's foreign plants. The Sonic's predecessor, the Chevrolet Aveo, was built in South Korea.

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General-turned-spy-chief gives military greater role in CIA analysis of Afghan war

WASHINGTON (AP) — David Petraeus, the former general who led the Afghanistan war and now heads the CIA, has ordered his intelligence analysts to give greater weight to the opinions of troops in the fight, U.S. officials said.

CIA analysts now will consult with battlefield commanders earlier in the process as they help create elements of a National Intelligence Estimate on the course of the war, to more fully include the military's take on the conflict, U.S. officials say.

Their input could improve the upcoming report card for the war.

The most recent U.S. intelligence assessment offered a dim view of progress in Afghanistan despite the counterinsurgency campaign Petraeus oversaw there and painted a stark contrast to the generally upbeat predictions of progress from Petraeus and other military leaders. Petraeus has made no secret of his frustration with recent negative assessments coming primarily from the CIA, and said during his confirmation hearing that he planned to change the way the civilian analysts grade wars.

The CIA's analysis makes up the bulk of national intelligence estimates, which help guide the White House and Congress in drafting future policy.

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Cain, Palin, Trump boomlets show that Republicans aren't sold on Romney

WASHINGTON (AP) — If polls show one thing with certainty, it's that Republicans aren't sold on Mitt Romney and they've been looking for other presidential candidates.

At least eight other Republicans have seen their standings soar in GOP primary surveys since the beginning of the year.

Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani didn't run. Nor did Donald Trump. And among those who actually got in the race, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and now, Herman Cain all have sat near— or at — the top of national polls, at least briefly.

The indecisiveness is a reflection on Romney, who hasn't been able to lock up the GOP's support even though he's essentially been running for president since losing his 2008 bid.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street protesters scrubbed, mopped and picked up garbage at the corporate-owned park they have been occupying in an attempt to stave off a scheduled cleanup Friday that demonstrators suspect is a pretext to evict them.

While moving out mattresses and camping supplies, organizers were mixed on how they would respond when police arrive at the request of Zuccotti Park owners to help remove the occupiers from the public plaza so it can be cleaned.

Some protesters said they would resist; others planned to cooperate but engage in nonviolent civil disobedience if they are not allowed back in the park.

Publicly-traded real estate firm Brookfield Office Properties planned to begin a section-by-section power-washing at 7 a.m. EDT. The company called the conditions at the park unsanitary and unsafe.

Han Shan, 39, of New York, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, said it was clear to everyone that the plan is to shut down the protest.

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Government watchdog says errors by air traffic controllers, runway incidents have soared

WASHINGTON (AP) — Errors by air traffic controllers in the vicinity of airports as well as incidents in which there was an unauthorized plane, vehicle, or person on a runway have increased sharply, a government watchdog said in a report released Thursday.

Mistakes by controllers working at radar facilities that handle approaches and departures within about 30 miles of an airport that cause planes to fly too close together nearly doubled over three years ending in March, the Government Accountability Office report said.

Separately, runway incursions at airports with control towers increased from 11 incidents per million takeoffs and landings in the 2004 federal budget year to 18 incidents per million takeoffs and landings in the 2010 federal budget year. Most large and medium-sized airports have control towers. Such “runway incursions,” as they are called, can involve anything that's not supposed to be on a runway, from a stray baggage cart to a plane that makes a wrong turn while taxiing.

The deadliest accident in aviation history occurred on March 27, 1977 on an airport runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands when two Boeing 747s collided, killing 583 people.

The Federal Aviation Administration attributed the increases in controller errors to better error reporting. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has also said previously that the agency is using new a plane-tracking system at approach control facilities better able to spot planes too close together. But the report said technologies aimed at improving automated reporting of incidents have not yet been fully implemented

MENDOTA, Calif. (AP) — On an October day in the midst of harvest season, two farmworkers sat idly in their home in a Central California town that touts itself as “the cantaloupe center of the world.”

Instead of picking the melons and supervising a work crew, Dora and David Elias of Mendota were unemployed — laid off along with hundreds of others as the cantaloupe listeria outbreak traced to Colorado rippled across the nation.

The pangs were particularly felt here in the top cantaloupe-producing state. Sales of California cantaloupes plummeted, even though their fruit was perfectly safe to eat. Farmers abandoned fields. Farmworkers lost jobs.

“We can't sell the fruit,” said Rodney Van Bebber, sales manager for Mendota-based Pappas Produce Company. “Retail stores are taking cantaloupes off the shelves, and growers are disking in their fruit because people are afraid to eat them.”

Federal officials quickly isolated the contamination to Jensen Farms in the Colorado town of Holly, which recalled its cantaloupes in mid-September. The tainted cantaloupes should be out of stores now because their shelf life is about two weeks.

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AP sources: US offered Cuba swap of convicted spy for American prisoner, but offer rebuffed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States offered to let a convicted Cuban spy return home in exchange for the release of an imprisoned American, but Cuba rebuffed the offer, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. also indicated it would be willing to address other Cuban grievances after Havana had released imprisoned contractor Alan Gross, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the sensitivity of the issue.

Cuba rejected the offer, noting that the Cuban, Rene Gonzalez, already had served most of his sentence. It wanted pardons for at least some of the four other Cubans convicted with Gonzalez. U.S. officials said they would not consider pardons.

The December 2009 arrest of Gross, a Maryland native, has aggravated relations between the United States and Cuba just as the Obama administration was making tentative movements to ease decades of tension.

Gross was caught bringing prohibited communications equipment into Cuba while on a democracy program financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development. In March, he was sentenced to 15 years for crimes against the state. The United States says Gross was merely trying to help Cuba's Jewish community communicate with the rest of the world and should not have faced prosecution.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official urged the international community to take “immediate measures” to protect civilians in Syria as the death toll from seven months of anti-government unrest in the country rose above 3,000.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that the unrelenting crackdown by the government of President Bashar Assad could worsen unless further action is taken.

“The onus is on all members of the international community to tale protective action in a collective and decisive manner, before the continual ruthless repression and killings drive the country into a full-blown civil war,” Pillay said in a statement.

She didn't elaborate on what measures the international community could take beyond the sanctions already imposed on Assad's regime.

Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that it was up to the U.N. Security Council to decide what action was appropriate.

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Sleep expert testifies doctor's use of drugs on Michael Jackson was 'beyond comprehension'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A UCLA sleep expert described Dr. Conrad Murray's use of a cocktail of drugs on Michael Jackson as “unethical, disturbing and beyond comprehension.”

The combination of drugs used as Jackson struggled to fall asleep on the day he died was a “recipe for disaster” and ultimately caused his death, Dr. Nader Kamangar testified Thursday.

Under questioning by Murray's attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, the witness was asked to tell jurors what he knew about the events of June 25, 2009, the day of Jackson's death.

“To summarize, Mr. Jackson was receiving very inappropriate therapy in a home setting, receiving very potent therapies without monitoring,” Kamangar said.

He said diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan) and midazolam (Versed) were given to the sleepless star during a 10-hour period throughout the night and morning.

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Randy Wolf baffles Cardinals for 7 innings to lead Brewers to 4-2 win and 2-all tie in NLCS

ST. LOUIS (AP) — No more sleepless nights for Randy Wolf.

The 35-year-old left-hander blames himself for Milwaukee's division series against Arizona going the distance. He was more relieved than elated after his first career postseason win got the Brewers back to even in the NL championship series.

He ensured that the pennant will be decided at Miller Park.

“Just to be able to get another opportunity to pitch again was important,” Wolf said after outfoxing the St. Louis Cardinals for seven innings of a 4-2 victory in Game 4 Thursday night. “It's kind of a weird word, but it's redemption to go back out there.”

Ryan Braun had two hits and an RBI, giving him a .471 average (16 for 34) with two homers and nine RBIs in the postseason. Jerry Hairston Jr. doubled twice with an RBI plus a nifty slide at the plate to avoid a tag.